I mostly take issue with Sinden's, then MOC's, management of the team from the summer of '93 until they finally got removed from their duties in 2006.
Even in that time period they had a few decent teams (94, 98, 99, 02, 04) but some pretty awful ones.
97 obviously was dreadful, but despite playoff qualifying those 95 and 96 teams weren't very good and had serious flaws.
The 2000 team (Bourque trade) wasn't as bad as 97 but it wasn't much better.
2001 they didn't make it but just barely missed and we're cooking pretty good with Keenan at the helm, the GAS line and Thornton up front. They were 30-19-6 after Guerin made his Bruins debut.
I thought that 2003 team was terrible as well as their D-corps wasn't very good and the goaltending of Grahame/Shields/Hackett wasn't up to par. You know a team is bad when the GM fires the coach in mid-March and takes over behind the bench himself.
For me they super-sucked 3 times (97, 2000, 2006), were bad/flawed 3 times (95, 96, 2003), decent-but-not-a-contender (94, 98,99, and 2001) and were contenders in 2002 and 2004. Seems pretty mediocre to me.
if we use this same revisionist history to x-ray any other team... how many will pass your test?
is the problem really the teams themselves... or fans crazy expectations?
truth is... in any singular season... there are 6-7-8 teams entering the playoffs with a 'realistic' chance to win it all if things bounce their way {and only 1 team will win}
this means that quite frankly there were at least 5 teams that did a pretty good job getting close enough and simply fell short because of bounces and ref calls and injuries and hot goalies etc etc etc
if it was really so easy to say 1 team was going to win the cup... you, me, and joe would all take our life savings and bet vegas... but no... sorry... playoffs are a crapshoot and the 'best team' wont necessarily win. betting even for genius like you and i {joe aint no genius} is a risky business
so... 5-6-7 teams are good enough to win... and dont... that means 7 teams could all get their 6 years in a row and by pure math 1 of them is going to end up with no cups
how many times in that 20 year or 10 year period of time were the bruins one of those 7 teams? has there ever been a decade where the bruins werent a vegas favorite at least 3 out of the 10 times?
what other franchise can boast this level of success?
i was born in 68... which other team has been to the finals more often than boston in those 52 years? or if you want to get rid of the orr factor... the last 40 years? how many of the 21 teams in existence in 1979 when bourque and gretzky joined us have been to the finals more than we have?
is there 1 team better? or 2? or none?
sure... if winning the cup is the ONLY MATRIX OF SUCCESS then stick to your guns. tell me tampa sucked 3 of the last 4 years... that vegas has sucked since entering the league... that toronto has sucked my entire lifetime... sure... if thats your method of success analysis i wouldnt even pick a favorite team for a year until late june
for other people who can cheer effort... and entertainment... i suggest boston is as good as it gets for a favorite team. i know i have never regretted my support
go bruins go {and by the way, 3 cup wins in my lifetime... who has more?}